Automatic process for continuously assembling male and female fasteners on carrier sheet

ABSTRACT

An automatic process is provided for continuously assembling male and female fasteners on a carrier sheet, and includes a) continuously advancing the carrier sheet to pass through a narrowest gap between first and second rollers, b) sequentially feeding the male and female fasteners onto the first and second rollers, respectively, and c) rotating the first and second rollers to permit the male and female fasteners respectively on the first and second rollers to sequentially move into the narrowest gap. Each of the male fasteners, once moving into the narrowest gap, extends through the carrier sheet to be brought into fastening engagement with the corresponding female fastener in the narrowest gap.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Taiwanese invention patent application no. 107146190, filed on Dec. 20, 2018.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to an automatic process, more particularly to an automatic process for continuously assembling male and female fasteners on a carrier sheet.

BACKGROUND

An electrode patch, which may be attached to the skin of a patient for measuring his/her physiological signals, normally includes a substrate which has upper and lower surfaces, a plurality of electrodes which are separately coupled to the lower surface of the substrate to be in contact with the patient′ skin, and a plurality of fastener units which are mounted to the substrate to permit the electrodes to be in electrical connection with an outer device for collecting the signals for the electrodes. Each of the fastener units includes a male fastener and a female fastener, one of which is disposed on the lower surface of the substrate to be electrically connected to the respective electrode, and the other of which is disposed on the upper surface of the substrate to be electrically connected to the outer device. The male fastener extends through the substrate to be brought into electrical connection and fastening engagement with the female fastener.

A conventional process for manufacturing the electrode patches may include the steps of: (i) preparing an elongated sheet, which includes thereon a plurality of semi-products of the electrode patches; (ii) manually fastening the fastener units to each of the semi-products; and (iii) stamping the elongated sheet into a plurality of electrode patches. Given that the conventional process involves manual operation, such process is time-consuming and low in efficiency.

The fastener units, in the apparel manufacturing field, may each include a male buckle and a female buckle. The assembly of the male and female buckles of the fastener units on a sheet is carried out through manual labor and lacks efficiency.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide an automatic process for continuously assembling male fasteners and female fasteners on a carrier sheet.

According to the disclosure, an automatic process is provided for continuously assembling male fasteners and female fasteners on a carrier sheet which extends in a front-and-rear direction. The automatic process includes the steps of:

a) continuously advancing the carrier sheet from rear to front to pass through a narrowest gap between a first roller and a second roller in an upright direction, each of the first and second rollers extending in a left-and-right direction;

b) sequentially feeding the male fasteners onto an outer peripheral surface of the first roller, and sequentially feeding the female fasteners onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roller; and

c) rotating the first and second rollers to permit the sequentially fed male fasteners on the first roller to sequentially move into the narrowest gap and to permit the sequentially fed female fasteners on the second roller to sequentially move into the narrowest gap such that each of the male fasteners, once moving into the narrowest gap, is permitted to extend through the advancing carrier sheet to be brought into fastening engagement with a corresponding one of the female fasteners in the narrowest gap, to thereby continuously assemble the male and female fasteners on the advancing carrier sheet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment (s) with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an automatic process for continuously assembling male fasteners and female fasteners on a carrier sheet according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a side view of an assembling apparatus which is for carrying out the automatic process and which is disposed downstream of a roll-to-roll processing apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a partially exploded perspective view of the assembling apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary partially cross-sectional view of the assembling apparatus, illustrating relationship among first and second rollers and first and second feeding devices;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, partially cross-sectional view illustrating the male fasteners in the first feeding device; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top view of the assembling apparatus illustrating the first roller and the first feeding device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

To aid in describing the disclosure, directional terms may be used in the specification and claims to describe portions of the present disclosure (e.g., front, rear, left, right, top, bottom, etc.). These directional definitions are intended to merely assist in describing and claiming the disclosure and are not intended to limit the disclosure in any way.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, an automatic process according to an embodiment of the disclosure is carried out by an assembling apparatus 200 for continuously assembling male fasteners 801 and female fasteners 802 on a carrier sheet 900 which is advanced from rear to front in a front-and-rear direction (X). In an embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the assembling apparatus 200 is disposed downstream of a roll-to-roll processing apparatus 100 for treating the carrier sheet 900 from the roll-to-roll processing apparatus 100. The carrier sheet 900 may be an elongated sheet, and may include thereon a plurality of semi-products 901 for electrode patches. Each of the semi-products 901 may have a plurality of electrodes 902, a plurality of predetermined holes 904, and a plurality of electric wires 905 each extending from one of the electrodes 902 to an edge of the respective hole 904. The carrier sheet 900 may have thereon a plurality of markers 903, two adjacent ones of which are spaced apart from each other in the front-and-rear direction (X) by a predetermined distance. In other embodiment, the carrier sheet 900 may be just a sheet prepared for carrying the male and female fasteners 801, 802.

The assembling apparatus 200 includes a roller device 3, a first feeding device 4, and a second feeding device 5.

The roller device 3 includes a first roller 31, a second roller 32, a suction module 33, and a roller drive module 34.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the first and second rollers 31, 32 extend respectively in a left-and-right direction (Y), and are spaced apart from each other in an upright direction (Z) to define therebetween a narrowest gap (G) A plurality of first retaining holes 310 are separately formed in an outer peripheral surface of the first roller 31 to be arranged in two circumferential rows. A plurality of second retaining holes 320 are separately formed in an outer peripheral surface of the second roller 32 to be arranged in two circumferential rows.

Each of the first and second rollers 31, 32 may have therein a plurality of axial bores 311 which respectively extend in left-and-right direction (Y), and which are angularly displaced from each other to be respectively in fluid communication with the first or second retaining holes 310, 320 so as to permit the first or second retaining holes 310, 320 to be vacuumed by virtue of the suction module 33. The suction module 33 may have a vacuum pump and a plurality of pipes each of which is connected upstream of the vacuum pump and downstream of a respective one of the axial bores 311 of the first and second rollers 31, 32 for vacuuming the first and second retaining holes 310, 320.

The roller drive module 34 is coupled to drive the first and second rollers 31, 32 to rotate respectively in two opposite circumferential directions. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the first roller 31 is driven to rotate in a counterclockwise direction, and the second roller 32 is driven to rotate in a clockwise direction.

The first feeding device 4 is disposed above the carrier sheet 900 for sequentially feeding the male fasteners 801 to the first roller 31 at its upper and rear side, and the second feeding device 5 is disposed beneath the carrier sheet 900 for sequentially feeding the female fasteners 802 to the second roller 32 at its lower and front side.

Please note that because the first and second feeding devices 4, 5 have substantially the same structure and similar function, only the first feeding device 4 for feeding the male fasteners 801 is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, each of the first and second feeding devices 4, 5 may include a support wall 41, two drive wheels 42 (only one is shown), a drive module 43, and two fastener guides 44. The support wall 41 is inclinedly mounted above a respective one of the first and second rollers 31, 32, and is formed with two separated circular recesses 410 each of which is provided for accommodation of the male or female fasteners 801, 802, and two discharge channels 411 each of which is disposed downstream of the respective circular recess 410. Each of the drive wheels 42 is rotatably mounted in the respective circular recess 410 and includes a wheel hub 423, a plurality of spokes 424 which extend radially from the wheel hub 423 to permit the male or female fasteners 801, 802 to be received in the respective circular recess 410 among the spokes 424, and a wheel rim 421 which extends to interconnect outer ends of the spokes 424, and which is formed with a plurality of retaining passages 422 each being configured to retain and permit passage of, one at a time, the male or female fasteners 801, 802. Each one of the male or female fasteners 801, 802, when being in a corresponding one of the retaining passages 422 and elevated by the respective drive wheel 42, is permitted to be thrown out of the respective circular recess 410 to thereby move into the respective discharge channel 411 due to the gravity of each male or female fastener 801, 802. The drive module 43 is coupled to the wheel hub 423 of each of the drive wheels 42 to drive rotation of the drive wheels 42. The fastener guides 44 are displaced from each other in the left-and-right direction (Y), and extend downwardly from the support wall 41 toward the outer peripheral surface of the first or second roller 31, 32. Each of the fastener guides 44 has a guiding channel 440 configured to permit the male or female fasteners 801, 802 from the respective discharge channel 411 to be sequentially fed in the respective circumferential row of the first or second retaining holes 310, 320.

Furthermore, the assembling apparatus 200 may further include a marker detection device 6 and a control device 7. The marker detection device 6 is disposed to detect the markers 903 on the carrier sheet 900. The marker detection device 6 may be disposed beneath the carrier sheet 900 upstream of the roller device 3. The control device 7 is in signal communication with the marker detection device 6 so as to calculate the advancing speed of the carrier sheet 900 based on the predetermined distance between the two adjacent ones of the markers 903 and a time interval between the times when the two adjacent ones of the markers 903 are detected. The control device 7 is further in signal communication with the roller drive module 34 such that, based on the calculated advancing speed, rotation speed of the first and second rollers 31, 32 is adjusted by the roller drive module 34.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the automatic process is shown to include steps a) to step c).

In step a), the carrier sheet 900 is advanced continuously from rear to front to pass through the narrowest gap (G) between the first and second rollers 31, 32.

In step b), the male fasteners 801 are sequentially fed onto the outer peripheral surface of the first roller 31, and the female fasteners 802 are sequentially fed onto the outer peripheral surface of the second roller 32. In an embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the male fasteners 801 from the first feeding device 4 are sequentially retained in the first retaining holes 310 on the first roller 31, and the male fasteners 802 from the second feeding device 5 are sequentially retained in the second retaining holes 320 on the second roller 32.

In step c), the first and second rollers 31, 32 are driven by the roller drive module 34 to rotate so as to permit the sequentially fed male fasteners 801 on the first roller 31 to sequentially move into the narrowest gap (G) and to permit the sequentially fed female fasteners 802 on the second roller 32 to sequentially move into the narrowest gap (G). Each of the male fasteners 801, once moving into the narrowest gap (G), is permitted to extend through a corresponding one of the predetermined holes 904 on the advancing carrier sheet 900 to be brought into fastening engagement with a corresponding one of the female fasteners 802 in the narrowest gap (G), to thereby continuously assemble the male and female fasteners 801, 802 on the advancing carrier sheet 900. In this regard, each of the electrodes 902 of each semi-product 901 is electrically connected to the corresponding assembled pair of the male and female fasteners 801, 802 by virtue of the corresponding electric wire 905. In other embodiment, the predetermined holes 904 may not be formed on the carrier sheet 900 in advance, and may be formed once each of the male fasteners 81 is stamped through the carrier sheet 900.

In an embodiment, step c) may include sub-steps c1) to c3).

In sub-step c1), the first roller 31 is driven to rotate while vacuuming the first retaining holes 310 so as to permit the male fasteners 801 from the first feeding device 4 to be sequentially retained in the first retaining holes 310 by the vacuum effect and to be sequentially moved to the narrowest gap (G).

In sub-step c2), the second roller 32 is driven to rotate while vacuuming second retaining holes 320 so as to permit the female fasteners 802 from the second feeding device 5 to be sequentially retained in the second retaining holes 320 by the vacuum effect and to be sequentially moved to the narrowest gap (G).

In sub-step c3), each of the male fasteners 801 is assembled with the corresponding one of the female fasteners 802 in the narrowest gap (G) on the advancing carrier sheet 900 to permit the assembled male and female fasteners 801, 802 to be advanced with the carrier sheet 900.

In an embodiment, step c) may further include sub-steps c4) to c6).

In sub-step c4), the markers 903 on the advancing carrier sheet 900 are detected by the marker detection device 6.

In sub-step c5), the advancing speed of the carrier sheet 900 is calculated by the control device 7 based on the predetermined distance between two adjacent ones of the markers 903 and the time interval between the times when the two adjacent ones of the markers 903 are detected.

In sub-step c6), the rotation speed of the first and second rollers 31, 32 is adjusted by the roller drive module 34 based on the calculated advancing speed so as to ensure each of the male fasteners 801 to be brought into fastening engagement with the corresponding one of the female fasteners 802 at a predetermined position (for example, the corresponding predetermined hole 904) on the carrier sheet 900.

In sum, with the provision of the automatic process of the disclosure, the male and female fasteners 81, 82 are continuously assembled on the advancing carrier sheet 900. In addition, by virtue of the signal communication among the marker detection device 72, the control device 72, and the roller drive module 43, the male and female fasteners 81, 82 may be more accurately assembled on the carrier sheet 900.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment(s). It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is (are) considered the exemplary embodiment(s), it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment(s) but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An automatic process for continuously assembling male fasteners and female fasteners on a carrier sheet, said automatic process comprising the steps of: a) continuously advancing the carrier sheet from rear to front to pass through a narrowest gap between a first roller and a second roller in an upright direction, each of the first and second rollers extending in a left-and-right direction; b) sequentially feeding the male fasteners onto an outer peripheral surface of the first roller, and sequentially feeding the female fasteners onto an outer peripheral surface of the second roller; and c) rotating the first and second rollers to permit the sequentially fed male fasteners on the first roller to sequentially move into the narrowest gap and to permit the sequentially fed female fasteners on the second roller to sequentially move into the narrowest gap such that each of the male fasteners, once moving into the narrowest gap, is permitted to extend through the advancing carrier sheet to be brought into fastening engagement with a corresponding one of the female fasteners in the narrowest gap, to thereby continuously assemble the male and female fasteners on the advancing carrier sheet.
 2. The automatic process according to claim 1, wherein step c) includes the sub-steps of: c1) rotating the first roller while vacuuming first retaining holes which are separately formed in the outer peripheral surface of the first roller to be arranged in at least one circumferential row, so as to permit the male fasteners from a first feeding device to be sequentially retained in the first retaining holes by vacuuming and to be sequentially moved to the narrowest gap; c2) rotating the second roller while vacuuming second retaining holes which are separately formed in the outer peripheral surface of the second roller to be arranged in at least one circumferential row, so as to permit the female fasteners from a second feeding device to be sequentially retained in the second retaining holes by vacuuming and to be sequentially moved to the narrowest gap; and c3) assembling each of the male fasteners with the corresponding one of the female fasteners in the narrowest gap on the advancing carrier sheet to permit the assembled male and female fasteners to be advanced with the carrier sheet.
 3. The automatic process according to claim 2, wherein step c) further includes sub-steps of: c4) detecting markers on the advancing carrier sheet; c5) calculating an advancing speed of the carrier sheet based on a predetermined distance between two adjacent ones of the markers and a time interval between the times when the two adjacent ones of the markers are detected; and c6) adjusting rotation speed of the first and second rollers based on the calculated advancing speed so as to ensure each of the male fasteners to be brought into fastening engagement with the corresponding one of the female fasteners at a predetermined position on the carrier sheet. 